Day 28: Backwoods Brewing’s Imperial Maple Porter

For today’s new release I’m giving Backwoods Brewing Company’s Imperial Maple Porter a try. I haven’t had anything from Backwoods and was intrigued by fact that they use maple in making this brew. I like pancakes just as much as the next guy so lets pour the pint.

-Appearance: Carbonation that forms a slight head but then doesn’t stick around for the entire pint. A very deep, dark, black beer up top but then there is some light redish notes at the bottom of the glass.

-Nose: You get a slight amount of hops. But then a big roasty malt note takes over, almost get a coffee type smell off of it. Vanilla is a very big player in on the nose as well.

-Palate: Coffee notes even more prevalent on the palate. You get that big roasted malt note that you found on the nose. Vanilla and bourbon flavors as well but this isn’t a barrel aged beer so it can’t be that. I keep searching for it but I seriously cannot get out and out maple syrup on this guy. You get the components but not straight up maple. Not as thick of a mouth-feel that you get with a stout. Since it is a porter… I think that’s what they are going for here.

-Rating: 2.75/5: It’s just an ok brew. I would like it a whole lot better if I actually got the maple on the palate or nose. I even took this beer slowly to see if I would pick up the maple after it warmed up a bit. You get the components of the maple flavor, but I wanted to feel like I was eating pancakes. A good breakfast beer for that matter, but alas I will keep searching for my breakfast beer.